Black architects still make up only about 2% of the profession, and Shawn Hamlin and Stephen Wilder are working to change that.<\/p>\n
For Shawn Hamlin, every project starts the same way \u2013 with a conversation, then a sketch.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is nothing like envisioning something, drawing it and then seeing it come to life,\u201d Hamlin said. \u201cThat feeling, and seeing people appreciate it, is beautiful.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hamlin\u2019s interest in architecture started back in grade school, when he first learned what an architect does.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce I understood the concept, that\u2019s what I wanted,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd so from that point on, my direction was to become an architect.\u201d<\/p>\n
This year, his firm, the Hamlin Design Group, marks 20 years in business, shaping public spaces across New York, from SUNY administration buildings to state offices and local schools.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not easy,\u201d Hamlin said. \u201cChallenges from the economy, to issues with clients and budgets. It is a very complex industry, but one that I\u2019ve found very rewarding.\u201d<\/p>\n
Getting to that point didn\u2019t come without setbacks. Hamlin said his firm weathered the 2008 recession and the economic shock of the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe went through a recession in 2008. And then COVID hit, as we know, in 2020, and we just kept plugging along,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
In a field where Black architects account for about 2% of licensed professionals nationwide, advocates say access often comes down to who is in the room when decisions are made.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe just want to be invited into all of these spaces because we\u2019re usually not there when a lot of decisions are being made, and then we\u2019re the ones that have to clean it up later,\u201d said Stephen Wilder, principal of Think Wilder Architect and president of the New York Coalition of Black Architects.<\/p>\n
Wilder said changing those numbers means reaching young people early, before they rule out architecture as a career.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have something called Project Pipeline, where we have events for kids as young as 9 years old all the way through high school,\u201d Wilder said. \u201cWe\u2019re engaging them and we\u2019re meeting them and we\u2019re connecting with them and showing them what architecture is and how important it is.\u201d<\/p>\n
When Black architects are at the table, he said, the work, and whose stories are centered, can look different.<\/p>\n
In Albany, Hamlin\u2019s firm is designing a new interpretive center honoring Underground Railroad and civil rights leaders Stephen and Harriet Myers, who helped freedom seekers find safety in the Capital Region.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat will be an incredible project for the community because that story, I think, is a unique story to upstate New York of the movement of slaves from the South coming northward,\u201d Hamlin said.<\/p>\n
As Black architects bring new visions to life, Hamlin and Wilder both hope more young Black designers can see themselves in the blueprint.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Black architects still make up only about 2% of the profession, and Shawn Hamlin and Stephen Wilder are…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":150561,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[206,2296,62991,15248,231,9,11,10,49,51,50,12,200],"class_list":{"0":"post-150560","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-albany-capital-region","9":"tag-app-human-interest","10":"tag-black-history-month-2026","11":"tag-corey-james","12":"tag-human-interest","13":"tag-new-york","14":"tag-new-york-headlines","15":"tag-new-york-news","16":"tag-new-york-state","17":"tag-new-york-state-headlines","18":"tag-new-york-state-news","19":"tag-news","20":"tag-vod"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150560","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=150560"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150560\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/150561"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=150560"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=150560"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=150560"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}